OLD Recreation: Get Out

Part-time Boulder resident and author Michael Sandler slipped while crossing a creek in the Sierra Nevadas and landed on a pyramid-shaped rock this spring. His right femur shattered in the identical spot his left femur had broken to pieces seven years earlier.
(COURTESY PHOTO)

Road to recovery

An IndieGoGo crowd-funding campaign has been set up to help Michael Sandler with his physical therapy and medical expenses, and to help the Sandlers write "Breathe Love," a book based on their recent experiences.

When Michael Sandler broke his left femur into pieces in an inline skating accident on the Boulder Creek Path in 2006, doctors at Boulder Community who pieced his leg back together called it a "one-in-a-million break."

Sandler, who suffered the severe injury when he made a split-second decision to throw himself down rather than hit a toddler who had wandered onto the path, went from being a sponsored inline skater training for a cross country world-record attempt to being unable to walk.

He ended up with a titanium femur and a significant leg length discrepancy. Years of rehab, orthotics and angst finally led him to barefoot walking and then barefoot running.

It allowed him to run again and sent him on his way to becoming a leading running expert with a worldwide following, author of two popular books -- "Barefoot Running" and "Barefoot Walking" -- and a key figure in the "minimalist" running movement championed by the late Boulder ultrarunner Micah True.

Then, unbelievably, it happened again.

On May 19, Sandler and his wife and co-author, Jessica -- the couple met while meditating at Boulder's Shambhala Center -- were finishing up a hike on a trail in the Sierra Nevadas above Lake Tahoe on their way home after a nationwide speaking tour. Sandler had taken a swim in a natural pool beneath a waterfall, and because it was cold, he had put on leather-soled moccasins.

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All at once, while crossing a creek, Sandler slipped, flew up in the air and went down hard. He landed on a pyramid-shaped rock, causing his right femur to "explode" on impact, in the identical spot his left had shattered seven years earlier. Lying in the cold water, unable to move and in severe pain, Sandler was forced to stay propped up on his arms.

Moving even slightly sent jarring pain throughout his body.

"No, not again!" Sandler screamed out. "No, not again!"

Michael Sandler trains for the 2006 Bolder Boulder after his first femur break, which occurred when he threw himself down rather than hit a toddler who had wandered onto the Boulder Creek Path.
(KASIA BROUSSALIAN)

At first, Jessica did not realize how serious the injury was. After all, she recalls, "We had only been walking."

Then, she said, "I went into a panic. ... I knew, if it was like the last time, there was a chance his femoral artery could be cut and that he could bleed to death."

It was close. Sandler was going into shock, had tunnel vision, and the world began going black. He knew he was dying. How easy it would be, he thought, just to lie back and let the water flow over him.

Jessica saved him. Looking over at his wife, "I saw the look of fear, terror and complete heartache. And I yelled, 'I am not going to die!'"

After rounding up hikers to go for help, Jessica's panic was replaced by fear. "There is immense fear because there is immense love," she said. "And what an opportunity to truly realize how much you love someone, when you fear you might lose them."

She wondered if this could be it, the end.

"It didn't make any sense. A few hundred yards back, we had shared a loving moment talking about starting a family someday soon. There was a part of me that knew there was a reason for the accident and that it was not just to let Michael die.

"It was also comforting to know that there are no odds for the same accident occurring twice. I knew there were some big lessons we were learning, though many I wouldn't process until later."

Hours later, incredulous doctors at a hospital in Lake Tahoe called it a "one-in-infinity chance" of breaking both femurs in such an uncommon way.

Sandler somehow left the hospital "balanced," according to doctors, with his leg length discrepancy gone and sporting "identical titanium hardware in both legs."

He is now rehabbing in Kula, Hawaii, saddled with medical bills of more than $141,000.

To top it off, the day the Sandlers returned home, the helicopter company that had flown him to the hospital called, asking for its $28,000 payment. And, that same day, the couple's accountant called, explaining that they were being audited by the IRS for their 2010 book tour.

Yet, despite it all, Sandler is amazingly upbeat. Both he and Jessica view the accident as a wake-up call to further their life mission.

"It is a gift," Sandler, 42, said Monday in a phone interview. "We are the same people, yet we are not. I died out there on the trail, and we are blazing a new path."

Explained Jessica, 32, "We have become more spiritual. We have this new perspective. There is no point wasting our time and energy on trivial things. The lessons have been both profound and yet simple."

That new path will be explored in the Sandlers' third book, titled "Breathe Love." The title comes from "being stuck in the creek," Sandler said, "not knowing if I was going to live or die. I was forcing myself to breathe, bringing in the most positive things I could. Something automatic had to become manual."

Added Sandler, "I knew I was in for hell. How do I make it through hell? Focus on the breath, bringing in light and beauty. Breathing in light, breathing out love. That simple act kept me alive. I was just walking along on the trail and almost died. That is transformative."

Jessica is not surprised by her husband's comeback. "I expect only a super positive attitude from Michael. He now lives and breathes what he preaches. Even though there currently aren't funds for a physical therapist, he is so in tune with his body, I completely trust that he knows how to build himself back.

"He is positive because he knows that without a doubt, this accident was a gift, an opportunity to learn lessons and to share them with others. And he's just grateful to be alive. We tell each other on a daily basis how grateful we are that he's still alive. And we now know life's biggest challenges are where the miracles happen."

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